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Florida’s same-sex marriage ban faces stern test

Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage faces a stern test today in a Miami courtroom, where six same-sex couples will ask a judge to throw out the state’s 2008 prohibition because it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel has scheduled a hearing for 4 p.m. in the case Pareto v. Ruvin, the latest in a series of lawsuits across the nation which stem from last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Catherine Pareto and Karla Arguello, are among the six couples challenging the law. Harvey Ruvin is the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Courts.

“A lot has changed in Florida and across the country on same-sex marriage,” said Sharon Kersten, a spokeswoman for Equality Florida, which is seeking to overturn the law. “We feel quite confident.”

John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, who spearheaded the drive that led to the voter-approved constitutional amendment, said he hopes Zabel will uphold the ban despite the tide of reversals since the high court’s decision.

Gay rights activists have won 18 cases involving bans in state and federal courts since justices ruled.

Stemberger’s organization will argue in favor of the ban today. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office will defend the state law. Bondi, a Republican seeking re-election, has drawn heat from same-sex marriage supporters for weighing into the the case.

In a motion, Bondi said that if courts authorize same sex-marriage in Florida, it would “impose significant public harm” and “create significant problems for the state’s pension and health insurance programs.”

Bondi also underscored the soundness of her constitutional position.

She wrote, “The definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman predates the founding of this Nation. There can be no doubt that the Founders assumed there was but one definition of marriage when the First Amendment was ratified.”

Forget the constitution for a second (which is not being violated by the ban on homosexual marriage). There is nothing normal about two men engaging in anal sex. There is nothing appealing about bestiality either. It is just plain abnormal and sick. If homosexual marriage ban violates the constitution, then those that engage in bestiality, polygamy, and pedophilia can cry the same argument.